State Gets Ready for Saraswati Pushkaralu at Kaleshwaram

 Hyderabad: The government has made extensive arrangements for the Saraswati Pushkaralu at Kaleshwaram for 11 days from May 15. The Pushkaralu will be held at the Triveni Sangamam, the confluence of the Godavari, Pranahita, and the subterranean Saraswati.

As part of the arrangements, industries minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu and endowments minister Konda Surekha launched the Saraswathi Pushkar app and web portal.

Sridhar Babu said that the government, for the first time, was building a tent city for the Pushkaralu and constructing a 17-feet-tall statue of Goddess Saraswati on the banks of the river at Kaleshwaram.

The government was expecting up to 1 lakh pilgrims every day to have a dip in the sangamam and visit the Sri Kaleshwara Mukteswara Swamy temple, he said.

Surekha said the government had spent `35 crore to build a wider ghat and named it after Goddess Saraswati, and taken up other developmental works. A 100-room guest house and dormitory building have been constructed and a 100-room tent city will be available for devotees during Pushkaralu.

The bathing ghats, dress changing rooms, OHSR water tanks, Pinda Pradhaan Mandapam, toilets and other facilities have been made at the temple city, she said. Surekha directed the officials to start a toll-free number to provide all the relevant information to the devotees.

Shailaja Ramayyar, principal secretary (endowment), said that the mobile app and web portal would provide all the information about the programme schedule at the temple and ghats, accommodation facilities, parking and medical facilities in the temple city and tent city.

During Pushkaralu, seers from various Mutts will take bath on each day.